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Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force

Environmental Restoration: An Indigenous Strategy for Human Sustainability

In 1992, the Haudenosaunee sent a delegation to the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to spread the words of the Thanksgiving Address, the philosophy of our people.  This delegation reminded the entire world that we have a responsibility to act as caretakers of the natural world. 

Following the Earth Summit, the Haudenosaunee held a Grand Council to discuss the environmental degradation of our communities.  In accordance  with the Kaianerekowa (Great Law of Peace), the Grand Council passed and agreed, based on Haudenosaunee protocols and cultural beliefs, to establish the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force (HETF).  

The Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force is composed of delegates (Haudenosaunee

leaders, environmental technicians and scientists) chosen by each of the Haudenosaunee Nations who are committed to identifying environmental problems in their communities and working to find solutions to these problems.

Over the next two years, the HETF worked collectively to put together a document called Haudenosaunee Environmental Restoration: An Indigenous Strategy for Human Sustainability.  The Restoration Plan begins with a short history of the Haudenosaunee and discusses how we have always interacted on an international  level by signing treaties with other Nations.  The plan then addresses the environmental concerns of each of the Haudenosaunee Nations, followed by a comprehensive strategy to do research to find solutions to environmental problems.

The HETF presently administers a grant from the EPA to assist the Cayuga, Tuscarora, and Tonawanda Seneca Nations as they develop environmental protection programs.

The HETF is also working to create a modern day culturally based environmental protection process to help the individual nations and communities of the Haudenosaunee protect and restore the natural world, while preserving our unique relationship with it, as sustainable societies.

mission

The mission of the HETF is to assist Haudenosaunee nations in their efforts to conserve, preserve, pprotect and restore their environmental, natural and cultural resources; to promote the health and survival of the sacred web of life for future generations; to support other Indigenous Nations working on environmental issues; and to fulfill our responsibilities to the natural world as our

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